Guest Post: Novelist Examines Her Love Of Geocaching

DOUBLE CACHING OUT TOUR

Morgan C Talbot, author of new Caching Out series novel Death Will Attend, puts her hobby under the magnifying glass.

“I like challenges. Things I think I can master, endure, and/or solve, if I work hard enough. I pushed myself into earning a black belt, despite numerous broken bones and dislocated joints, and even a few stitches. Geocaching, while less violent, has the same appeal to me: it involves a set of skills that have real-world applications as well as making me feel awesome while I’m doing it.

Morgan C Talbot

I’m absolutely rubbish at driving to new places. I get lost about 75 per cent of the time. No, really. I miss a street sign or a freeway turnoff because I’m daydreaming about something and not paying attention, and the next thing I know, I’m in the next county.

“Geocaching has given me more confidence in exploring new areas. It’s even taught me better map skills, things like remembering landmarks and street names for reference when I inevitably lose my way. Some of that small-lost-child-in-the-store feeling has never really left my psyche but with the navigation skills geocaching has taught me, I don’t panic. Now I waymark things and keep going.

I thought I had a good gift for detail, until I took up this hobby. Then I realised what true detecting skill is: seeing what’s right in front of you and realising its significance. Our lives are crazy busy. We have media and advertisements in our faces all day. We eat on the run. We never have time to catch up with old friends, or enough time to finish everything we’re working on. But when we stop, just for a moment, to appreciate something that’s staring us in the face, to focus entirely on one thing for just a short while, it stands out in our memory.

I have so many good memories of finding cleverly hidden geocaches (like the now-archived GCTWZT Four Gin Splash in Seattle, Washington) because I stopped everything, went outside, and poked around with all the mental focus I could muster. Seeing what’s in front of me, and recognising its significance. An excellent camo job, my adorable kids, that tasty pizza I enjoy with friends. I choose to remember them. Focus is good. Geocaching taught me that.

The old adage about an ounce of preparation is also true for geocaching. Few things are worse than forgetting that pint of water you needed to float the cache to the top of its tube, or forgetting to double check your puzzle before uploading it to the geocaching site, resulting in a deluge of confused requests for hints. Anyone can participate in geocaching, it’s true. But the journey is smoother when we go prepared.

The best hobbies and activities are ones that carry over into the rest of our lives and better us. Geocaching betters me, and that’s why I love it.”

*You can buy your own copy of Morgan C Talbot’s new Caching Out title, Death Will Attend, at Amazon for US$11.99, Kindle for US$4.99, Kobo for US$6.04 and Barnes & Noble for $4.99 (Nook version). Her first installment, First To Find, is also available from the same outlets.

**Follow the remainder of her Double Caching Out blog tour here, and be sure to enter Red Adept Publishing’s competition here. It’s Not About The Numbers will have its own giveaway from tomorrow.